Pokemon: Darkness Rising
by drakn
Summary: When Ash is born, a plague sweeps across the town, killing many of the people living there, including his mother. Since then, he was ostracized from the rest of the village, cold glares being thrown his way, but they still mostly ignored him, except for one person, Gary. When Gary was once again bullying Ash in the forest, a wild arcanine bursts out of the bushes and attacks...
1. The Herald of Death

_When Ash is born, a plague sweeps across the town, killing many of the people living there, including his mother. Since then, he was ostracized from the rest of the village, cold glares being thrown his way, but they still mostly ignored him, except for one person, Gary. When Gary was once again bullying Ash in the forest, a wild arcanine bursts out of the bushes and attacks Gary, giving him almost fatal burns. Many people already hated Ash and this was the final straw. At age 6, Ash was sent to the Unova region without proper food, shelter, or water. _

_They thought he would die, but he'll show them he survived, and thrived._

_AN: So this'll be Dark Ash, so he might be OOC. _

_It won't be canon compliant, however he might go on the same road as normal except he handles it differently._

_In this story, there are gonna be Pokemon from all regions not just up to Unova. _

_Also! Zorua is gonna have abilities like Ditto, he can transform into the Pokemon he's seen before and use their moves, but can't transform into people._

_Ash might be OP so warning right there._

_I still don't know Ash's full team so suggestions are welcome._

* * *

A flash of lightning lit up the sky, thunder rumbled in the distance, and rain swept across the village. But nothing could dampen her spirits. She gazed lovingly at the infant clutched protectively in her arms, it didn't matter that his father had left with the intent of never returning, she would make sure her baby boy was raised with everything he wanted. A shame it wasn't up to her...

* * *

At the same time, Professor Oak held baby Gary in his arms, a bright, if tired smile etched upon the mother's face. The father stood proudly as he cooed at the infant, his blastoise coming up to poke warily at the blob of meat.

Blastoise's ear twitched at the sound of a loud caw, turning his blue head to watch a group of murkrow and honchkrow circling the hospital Delia was at. His eyes narrowed and a deep growl came from him. His trainer caught his gaze and followed it to the swarm of darkness pokemon.

All of them shifted uneasily as the omen of death hung heavily in the air. Professor Oak was the one to break the tense silence.

"I'm sure it's nothing but a coincidence..." Lightning flashed once more.

* * *

Unknown Location a figure raised their head, turning it to the location of the town, his white mane flowing in the wind and red spikes around his neck. The figure himself being wreathed in shadows.

His teal blue eyes glowed once as he felt the energy radiating from the direction, 'Looks like the Herald of Death has finally arrived...'

* * *

That night, several people got sick, dying in a few days. But that wasn't the end, the plague, as it was later known to be, spread, infecting many, killing many more.

In a year, it was finally brought under control. More than three quarters of the village fell to this mysterious disease, including Delia, and Gary's mother and father. Blastoise disappeared once his trainer died, consumed by grief and left to be in the wild, leaving baby Gary with his grandfather and a vague memory of a loving blue blob.

The only reason it didn't wipe out the town, was the fact that the people that contracted the illness died quickly after. The aftermath was disastrous, the mass funeral grim and somber. Fury at the cause of so many deaths, grief and sorrow for the fallen, terror that it may return, guilt for surviving when so many others didn't, emptiness at the loss of family, horrible realization of the mortality of men.

All their conflicting emotions, with nowhere else to go, lashed out blindly as what they perceived was the cause of this grief. The young raven haired child born that day whose hospital was swarmed with murkrow and honchkrow.

* * *

Who's that Pokemon?!

The Legendary Pokemon.

Fire Type.

Its magnificent bark conveys a sense of majesty. Anyone hearing it can't help but grovel before it.

5.

4.

3.

2.

1.

...

...

..

.

It's Arcanine!

* * *

Ash was an orphan, living alone in his house ever since he could remember. Someone would always come to check on him to make sure he didn't set fire to anything or cause any trouble or some shit like that. Even at his young age, he knew he wasn't well liked, many even hated him.

When he started attending school, he quickly learned to keep his head down, getting bad grades on tests and quizzes to not stand out. Because of this, he was thought of as stupid, but he that didn't bother him. It happened too much for it to bother him.

It was his birthday, his 6th birthday, but it wasn't anything special, it never was. Ash was walking home from school, head bowed and eyes locked on the ground.

That was the reason he didn't see the bully standing in his path. He crashed into Gary, who snarled, shoving Ash roughly. He hit the ground roughly, wincing in pain as he landed on one of the old wounds that hadn't fully healed yet.

"Oy! Watch where you're going, Ashy boy!" Gary sneered, glaring down at the raven haired boy. Gary had blamed Ash for his parents' death and Blastoise's disappearance as soon as he caught wind of the rumors surrounding Ash.

Ash murmured an apology, gathering his stuff that had spilled out when he hit the ground, and standing up, eyes tracing patterns in the dirt. He knew better than to talk back or look up. Gary was the son of the previous Kanto champion and the grandson of the world renowned Pokemon professor, Professor Oak.

And Ash, Ash was the pariah of the town, the reason why its populace had shrunk dramatically and the reason why the best trainers in the Kanto region had died along with his own mother, he was cursed, and everyone affiliated with him was cursed too. He still remembered when that rumor spread.

He had a friend once, when he was 4. He doesn't remember what happened, only that one day, he and his friend walked into the woods together. Half a day later, Ash walked out of the woods alone, the friend gone forever.

Nobody talked about it in the open. It was only when they thought he wasn't paying attention that they would talk. Hushed murmurs and not so discrete glares permeated the streets wherever he went, he just bowed his head and ignored it, like always.

He was nothing compared to Gary Oak, and Gary always loved to remind him of that fact. A sharp pain on the side of his face, and suddenly he was sprawled out on the floor, hand cupping cheek. Ash lifted his gaze, and it wasn't that hard to figure out what had happened. Gary was standing over him, fist still raised and eyes burning with rage.

"Are you ignoring me?!" he snarled, stalking up to Ash, "I'm better than you in every way!" Ash watched him with dead eyes, already prepared for the pain he knew would come. What he didn't expect was the glint of silver that appeared when the fading sunlight reflected off the sharp knife grasped in the 6 year old's hands. How he got his hands on it, Ash would never know.

Gary grinned, seeming to relish the way the raven's eyes widened slightly in fear, "Yeah, you killed my parents. Now, I'll kill you!" His lips quickly turned into an angry snarl as he plunged his knife towards the fallen boy.

Ash closed his eyes, awaiting and accepting his fate. That's when he felt it. He heard the rustle in the bushes, the roar as something big barreled out, the whoosh of something rushing by, Gary's shriek of agony. He smelled the scent of ash and the acrid smell of burnt hair. He saw the flash of bright light behind his closed eyelids.

And when he opened his eyes, he saw Gary's body. He was badly burned. That's all he could see before he turned to the side and vomited, retching up his, admittedly small, lunch. Through blurry eyes, he could see the retreating form of an arcanine.

And that's how the villagers and Professor Oak found him, kneeled next to the barely breathing, badly burned body of Gary Oak, a silver knife slick with blood knocked to the side.


	2. Warm Company in the Cold Forest

He was huddled under the not so protective shade of the leaves of a tree, the pouring rain battering his tired body. He was hungry, so hungry, so cold. He slumped down, burying his head in his arms as his eyes shone brightly, tears threatening to fall.

Why was he here? It was cold here, so cold and wet, and nobody cared about a small kid, they all had better things to do than take care of a brat. All he learned through the many people he had met, was that he was in the forest of a region called, Unova. He didn't like it here. He wanted to go home, it was warm at home, and he was never hungry. Right? What was home? It's been so long, what does a home feel like? How does it feel... to belong.

'You do not need to belong. Fear. Fear heralds respect. Humans are nothing but betrayors. Pokemon are the only ones to be trusted.' A sudden voice bellowed in his head, interrupting his melancholic thoughts.

His head shot up, breath quickening as his eyes searched for the owner of the voice, "Who's there?" 2 years of living in the wilds alone had strengthened his courage, and he was proud when his voice stayed strong and steady, not wavering under the prickly sensation of someone's gaze.

A rustle in the bushes drew his attention as a shiny Zoroark stepped out. It only took a few seconds for his eyes to catalogue the various injuries marring the shiny. There were a couple nicks and scratches covering him and a nasty burn on his side. A beaten and bent collar stayed stubbornly locked around his neck, but his slanted yellow eyes still burned brightly as they examined the raven haired boy.

Zoroark's head cocked, 'What does a child know of suffering?'

Ash scoffed, eyes dimming as memories of his childhood—he's never been a child—flashed through his mind, "What don't I know," his voice was bitter and resentful, unbefitting of a child so young.

Zoroark gave a low snarl, 'you too know the cruelty of humans?'

The raven gave a humorless smile, "before I would say "better than anyone," but after seeing you..." he trailed off, once again examining the pokemon's injuries.

The illusion fox pokemon padded forward until he was looming over Ash, 'are you not afraid of me human?' he sounded genuinely curious as he noted the way Ash didn't even flinch, much less run away screaming.

Ash shrugged, "should I be?"

Zoroark gave a low hum, 'I suppose not you...' The fox crouched down, staring in interest at the small, unusually small, human. 'Tell me, what happened kit?'

Ash jerked his head, surprised at Zoroark's deep, caring rumble. His eyes started to water slightly as he swallowed harshly, nobody had ever cared before, not when he tripped or broke a bone, not when he dropped hid textbook on his foot, or showed up with a black eye and a deep gash in his side. Nobody had cared, not a single sympathetic glane, not one 'are you okay?' never a hand to help him up. Nothing.

Zoroark saw his moistening eyes and panicked, 'Ah, what's wrong brat?! What did I do? I mean not that I care, cuz I don't, just so you know! You, you're just gonna draw attention or something.'

Ash gave a half laugh, half sob at the flustered and concerned pokemon in front of him. Something on Zoroark immediately softened as he noticed how small the kid actually was, something the tears accentuated.

Zoroark sighed, shuffling closer to the shaking kid, 'alright, tell me what's wrong, I'll listen. Though it's only because you're making way too much noise brat.'

The raven snickered at the illusion fox's last sentence, but he did end up spewing everything that he remembered to the pokemon.

He didn't know how comfortable and safe he actually felt until he fell into a deep slumber, cuddled into Zoroark's warm, silky fur.

When Ash woke up, he kept his eyes closed, reveling in the heat the Zoroark gave off. It completely contrasted the bone-deep chill before. The fox was warm, so warm. He never thought he'd feel warmth again, much less in this cold, cold forest. He never thought that would be possible.

When Ash finally, reluctantly, opened his eyes and broke out of his thougts, it was to the sight of Zoroark murmuring quietly to a tiny zorua in pokemon language. The zorua was nodding and giving little yips occasionally.

Ash's eyes landed on the black and blue pokemon and felt his eyebrows furrow. Weren't zoruas supposed to be red? His eyes drifted to the shiny Zoroark and back to the Zorua. Something finally clicked inside his brain. Jeez, when did he become so stupid?

Eh, whatever, he probably caught it from Gary. He shouldn't even look at an idiot from now on if stupidity stuck this long.

He didn't realize both Zoroark and Zorua were staring at him—damn you Gary—until Zoroark prodded him with a claw, 'Hey, you alright brat?'

"Oh, uh, yeah I'm fine." He hadn't even looked up at Zoroark yet, something about this zorua was just... It was like he was being drawn to her. His hand reached down, completely of its own accord, and brushed Zorua's head fluff. There was a bright flash of light and Ash reeled back, jerking his hand back as if it had been stung.

His hand felt like it was burning, burning, burning. Images flashed through his mind at impossible speeds, so fast he couldn't catch it, except for one that left an afterimage imprinted in his mind...

Darkrai.


End file.
